


Down to the Bone

by thesaddestboner



Category: National Football League RPF
Genre: Character Study, Dallas Cowboys, F/M, Plotless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-22
Updated: 2008-05-22
Packaged: 2017-11-12 11:28:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/490396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesaddestboner/pseuds/thesaddestboner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Tony is used to being stripped down.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Down to the Bone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AngGriffen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngGriffen/gifts).



> Just a short thing what I wrote. idek.
> 
> Originally posted [here](http://benched.livejournal.com/39998.html) (locked).
> 
> You can find me on [twitter](http://twitter.com/thesaddestboner) and [tumblr](http://saddestboner.tumblr.com).

Tony is used to being stripped down. He’s used to having his performances picked apart and analyzed like scientific specimens under a microscope. It’s just something that comes with the territory of being an NFL quarterback, an NFL quarterback for one of the league’s glitziest, best-known franchises.

He thinks maybe that’s why he’s so drawn to Jessica. 

She’s a beautiful girl, sure, but so was Carrie. They both have that same bronzed, blonde look Tony likes so well, and they both have incredible bodies. They’re both soft in all the right places, and one might say the two could even pass for sisters, more so than Jessica and her own sister, Ashlee.

But that’s not what drew him to Jessica at first. Tony’s pretty sure about that.

Jessica is a lot like him, he likes to think.

Jessica has always been under the spotlights. Sometimes, he wonders how she hasn’t been burned yet. And then he realizes that he can’t be completely sure of that. Jessica is good at putting up walls to keep the trespassers out, even Tony to an extent, but he’s seen the soft parts of her.

(Not what you’re thinking.)

When it’s just Tony and Jessica, just the two of them, and there are no photographers shoving their camera lenses in their faces, and there are no reporters screaming for stories, for fuel to add to the fire, no teammates, no entourages, no parents, she lets the wall down.

The sharp angles seem to melt away, and she doesn’t seem so hard-bitten, so bitter, so _used_.

It’s kind of like that for him, too. He never feels more alive when he’s on the football field, definitely. There’s nothing like a hundred thousand fans screaming – either for you or against you – to get the adrenaline racing, and the heart jackrabbiting in your chest.

But there’s something to be said for – whatever this is that he and Jessica have. Being with her, somebody who knows what it’s like to live behind such fragile glass walls, reminds Tony that he’s a, well, a person. Just like everybody else. Just like the assholes that make their livings off snapping pictures of his and Jessica’s private moments. Just like the assholes that camp outside the practice facility and ask leading questions about Terrell, what kind of teammate he is, what the status of Tony’s and Terrell’s relationship is, not really caring about Tony’s answers, just what they can put in the papers the next day.

They don’t have to be anybody else when they’re with each other.

**Author's Note:**

> The author of this piece intends no insult, slander, or copyright infringement, and is not profiting from this work. This story is a complete work of fiction and does not necessarily reflect on the nature of the individuals featured. This is for entertainment purposes only. If you found this story while Googling your name or the names of your friends, hit the back button now.


End file.
